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This case study examines some of the cultural and educational implications of the intersection of a Western world view and a Yupiaq world view in a remote Yupiaq Eskimo village on the Kuskokwim River in southwestern Alaska. The study examines how the contemporary Yupiaq people have adapted their belief system, educational practices and subsistence lifestyle to accommodate a mix of Western and indigenous cultural traditions and technologies. It involves the documentation of Yupiaq practices in a traditional fish camp and science education in a school setting. The most important vehicle for data gathering was the role of participant-observer, because it was congruent with the way Yupiaq people learn. In addition to patient observation, emphasis was placed on document analysis, informal conversations, and interviews as the primary sources of data from the fieldwork. The study addresses the aspirations of Yupiaq people for self-determination and self-reliance by providing a pedagogical framework which attempts to meld Western and Yupiaq knowledge generation and use, based on the data gathered in the field. Special attention is given to the generation and application of scientific knowledge in a manner suited to the maintenance of Yupiaq cultural traditions and world view in a contemporary world.

This dissertation is about the architecture of the Swahili peoples living along the eastern coast of Africa. Specifically, it explores the links and relationships between oral traditions, rituals and the built environment of the Waswahili (sing. Mswahili) or the 'people of the coast'. The 'ambiguous' and 'anomalous' identity of the Waswahili raises important questions on the definition and the understanding of Swahili architecture. To understand Swahili architecture, one must, first, understand the language and identity of the Waswahili. This dissertation makes use of new sources for the interpretation of the built environment of the Waswahili as depicted in the standing 18th century buildings in Lamu town, the oldest living town on the eastern coast of Kenya. Designated on UNESCO's World Heritage List, Lamu has a unique architecture that has often been misinterpreted and misunderstood, and such studies often lack authenticity. This dissertation is an attempt to bridge the gap between the identity and the built environment of the Waswahili and to portray Swahili architecture through oral discourse.

The results of an ethnohistorical study of Lethbridge, Alberta led to my questioning current presumptions in the Canadian social inequality literature that social class, income, educational attainment, gender and ethnicity are principal factors in shaping social inequality in Canada. The ethnographic evidence suggests that membership criteria associated with locally-defined, historically-evolved groups mark who has political influence (a specific form of social power), and where the ensuing social inequalities lie in Lethbridge. A theoretical framework describing how historical circumstances lead to the redefinition of which socially-defined characteristics become local status markers is presented as the underlying theoretical orientation of this thesis. The framework does not preclude the possibility that social groups other than those studied in this thesis use social class, occupation, income, education, gender and ethnicity as status characteristics or group membership criteria. The framework is my attempt to clarify the often-unclear relationship among social inequality concepts. A mail-out social survey (N=238) was used to empirically test the hypothesis that Lethbridge group membership is a better predictor than social class, income, educational attainment, gender and/or ethnicity of who has political influence in Lethbridge community decision-making. Data was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), bivariate correlation, and multiple regression. Mixed levels of support were found for the Lethbridge group hypotheses, with the "fits in" and "local trade/business people" receiving considerable support; North/South/West sider, and religious affiliation receiving some support; and Old-timers receiving no support. In contrast, the only social inequality hypothesis to receive more than minimal support was level of education. It is concluded that status characteristics are more fluid, local and historically negotiated than assumed in the social inequality literature. Suggested directions for future theoretical and empirical work include refinement of the relationships among social inequality variables and further empirical tests of the theoretical framework proposed here.

This study is about why and how Taiwanese immigrants construct their cultural identity through public festivals within Canadian multicultural society. The study stems from intrigue with prevailing practices in art education, both those characterizing Chinese as a homogeneous ethnic group and those viewing Chinese culture as a static tradition. Analyzing cultural representation organized by the Taiwanese community, I argue that ethnic cultural festivals are not only a site where immigrants inquire into cultural identity, but also a creative response to the receiving society's social context. This study does not ask what Taiwanese culture is, but how it is constructed in Canada. The Taiwanese studied are immigrants who came with a colonial history and a particular political experience. Two of their cultural festivals demonstrate how the selectivity of cultural production reveals the immigrants' view of themselves, and how they wish to be seen. The Taiwanese Cultural Festival and the Lunar New Year Festival reflect identity construction achieved through the dynamics of choosing and naming cultural elements which are important to them. Interview data provided by the festivals' organizers and participants suggest that cultural identity is a creative response to the multicultural context. In order to justify their place in the Canadian mosaic, the Taiwanese emphasize their differences from other Chinese descendants. Difference is a signifier for Taiwanese to select from a variety of ethnic markers and to interpret their colonial past. The Taiwanese Cultural Festival asserts Taiwanese particularity, congruent with a socio-political consciousness of the native land. The traditional Lunar New Year Festival is a cultural statement that reflects immigrant parents and children reaching out to other Canadians. Both festivals intend to promote cross-cultural understanding among the general public and the festivals' end products are a showcase of ethnic representations. For the immigrants themselves, I find that education happens during the process of constructing the festivals, thereby interpreting cultural heritage through inquiring into their past. In a multicultural society, festivals are intensive sites raising questions about cultural identity and social place. Canada, largely composed of immigrants, is a place where ethnic groups from different parts of the world coexist. It is a global village in miniature, where ethnic and cultural identities are becoming a heated topic. The case of Taiwanese festivals in Canada demonstrates the selective process establishing cultural traditions and the complexities of identity formation. Particularity is emphasized in order to become a member of a multicultural society. The assertion of differences allows post-colonial subjects to find their past and search for means to live in the present. For North American multicultural educators, this suggests a range of post-colonial issues and the need for an awareness amongst educators of the evolving nature of cultural tradition at the nexus of Western cultural impact and irnmigration experiences.

Using an ethnohistorical method which combines archival material with ethnographic material collected mostly by anthropologists, this thesis provides a history of Tlingit women's interaction with the Presbyterian missions. The Presbyterians, who began their work among the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska in the 1870s, were particularly concerned with the introduction of "appropriate" gender roles. Although participating in the roles and activities defined by the Presbyterians as "women's work", Tlingit women incorporated Presbyterian forms of practice into their own cultural frames of reference. The end result, unintended by the missionaries, was that Tlingit women were provided with a new power base.

This thesis explores the changing meaning of wind dried salmon in contemporary constructions of the culture of the Stó:lō First Nation. Wind drying has been a method of preserving salmon for the Aboriginal peoples of the lower mainland of British Columbia since time immemorial, providing significant winter provisions. However, over the course of the last one hundred years, participation in this fishing activity has been drastically decreased and currently only a handful of Stó:lō families maintain dry racks in the Fraser canyon. As a result, wind dried salmon has gone from being a staple to a delicacy, and is now valued as a cultural tradition, rather than merely as a food product. This change in culturally inscribed meaning is a product of the relationship between Stó:lō fishing activities and fishery regulations imposed by the settler state. Increasing restrictions of Aboriginal fishing rights have resulted in decreased participation and success in the Stó:lō fisheries. Furthermore, regulation has artificially categorized and segregated Stó:lō fishing activities, dislocating the commercialized fresh catch from the "subsistence" dried fish harvest. The response to this regulatory pressure has been the traditionalization of the wind dry fishery, situating the activity as a cultural symbol and a point of resistance to external control. Wind dryers currently refuse to commercialize the wind dry fishery, thus resisting outside control of the management of the fishery and the distribution of the harvest. This situation is discussed in light of anthropological understandings of the construction of traditions, and the issues of Aboriginal rights surrounding contemporary Stó:lōfishing activities.

Išanalizavus tyrimo rezultatus paaiškėjo, kad pedagogai mokyklos bendruomeniniame gyvenime pasigedo didesnio tėvų dalyvavimo. Tyrimo hipotezė pasitvirtino. Tačiau daugelis tėvų tik vidutiniškai įvertino pedagogų (mokyklos bendruomenės) suinteresuotumą bendradarbiauti su jais, konstatuotina tai, kad ir patys pedagogai per mažai deda pastangų tėvus įtraukdami į mokyklos bendruomeninį gyvenimą. Tiek tėvai, tiek ir pedagogai akcentavo, kad siekiant efektyvaus mokyklos ir šeimos bendradarbiavimo būtinas nuolatinis mokyklos bendruomenės narių ryšio palaikymas, tėvų švietimas. / After the analysis of findings results it became obvious that educators miss parents participation in the social life of school. Findings hypothesis proved out. However, the majority of parents only meanly evaluated educators (the social life of school) interest in cooperating with them, so, in state of this, the educators doesn‘t put much effort involving parents in social life of the school. Parents, as well as educators accented, that it is necesarry both to educate parents and to keep the connection between the school‘s environment members in order to have effective cooperation between school and family.